The present invention relates to a recoil device useful to buffer or dampen the reaction experienced by a shooter upon firing a shoulder firearm.
Gun recoil is experienced when using virtually any firearm. Recoil from such firearms can cause the shooter to flinch, raise his or her head, and/or causes the muzzle to flip up. Such movements generally result in reduced accuracy in the shot. Accordingly, it is desirable to reduce this recoil effect and thereby improve shot accuracy.
Recoil devices are well known in the art, for example, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,328,700 to Wagoner; 3,019,543 to Ducharme; 1,307,529 to Werndl; 3,707,797 to Ruth; and 3,754,344 to Spiliotis. Each of these patents discloses a shoulder firearm having a recoil reducer which includes a butt end plate dampingly connected to the butt end of the firearm stock by at least one shaft member extending from the butt plate to the firearm's stock. Gun recoil in each of the firearms is damped by compressible springs. Upon firing, the gun stock slides rearward towards the end plate, compressing the springs which dampen the recoil effect.
Each of the mechanisms disclosed in these patents has the drawback that the comb portion of the shoulder firearm, which rests against the cheek of a user, is movable with respect to the butt end piece. This means that upon recoil, the comb portion slides rearward against the user's cheek and it tends to cause the shooter to flinch.
U.S. Pat. No 3,209,482 to Kuzma et al. discloses a recoil device for a shoulder firearm including a butt stock and a hollow butt plate assembly into which the butt stock can telescope. A shock absorbing assembly is provided between the butt stock and butt plate assembly. The butt plate assembly defines the comb to receive a user's cheek and thus would not slide on the cheek upon recoil of the gun barrel and butt stock. However, such device is relatively complex and includes a large number of components in order to function properly.